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New sequester battle: Woodward vs. White House

Washington is keeping an eye on the latest political battle, and for once it's not President Obama versus congressional Republicans. It's Bob Woodward versus the White House. The bestselling author and

New sequester battle: Woodward vs. White House

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Washington is keeping an eye on the latest political battle, and for once it's not President Obama vs. congressional Republicans.

It's Bob Woodward vs. the White House.

The best-selling author and Washington Post reporter is protesting White House pushback over his criticism of how Obama and aides are handling the sequester issue.

"It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this," Woodward told CNN, citing an e-mail he received from "a senior person" at the White House.

"I mean, it makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you're going to regret doing something that you believe in," Woodward said.

In a statement, the White House said that "of course no threat was intended. As Mr. Woodward noted, the e-mail from the aide was sent to apologize for voices being raised in their previous conversation. The note suggested that Mr. Woodward would regret the observation he made regarding the sequester because that observation was inaccurate, nothing more. And Mr. Woodward responded to this aide's e-mail in a friendly manner."

All we can say is: We know more than a few reporters have received similar e-mails from White House officials. Yelling has also been known to happen.

Tension between presidents, presidential aides, and the people who cover them is inherent and has been around as long as the government itself.

That's certainly been the case with the sequester, the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts that take effect Friday unless the president and congressional Republicans strike a new debt reduction deal.

Woodward has reported that the White House came up with the sequester idea, has "move the goal posts" in negotiations with Republicans, and is making unnecessary national security decisions in response to the looming budget cuts.

White House spokesman Jay Carney and other aides note that Republicans signed off on the sequester in 2011, that Obama's debt cutting plan has been consistent, and has no flexibility when it comes to the across-the-board cuts demanded by the sequester.